1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high security holster with a locking mechanism and methods of use thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
Over the past several years, law enforcement personnel have been targeted by highly aggressive members of the citizenry throughout the day-to-day duties of law enforcement personnel. The media broadcasts weekly violent attacks on law enforcement officers, which oftentimes ends in severe wounding or deaths of the officers and innocent bystanders. The term “gun grab” has become widely understood. For example, the unfortunate events of a successful gun grab in the year 2005 from an officer in a municipal courthouse in Atlanta, Ga. ended in the untimely death of law enforcement personnel and a judge. Another gun grab attempt in a Rhode Island police headquarters resulted in the death of a police detective with his own pistol in the hands of a suspect during questioning.
Unfortunately, the safety features of conventional prior art holster designs have become marginalized by their own descriptive terminology. For prior art holsters, the levels of pistol retention in the holster are rated on a scale of Levels 1 through 4 depending upon the degree of safety features provided with a holster. A conventional holster with a simple strap means that the holster has a Level 1 retention rating. A holster with a rotating thumb brake cover on a strap means that the holster has a Level 2 retention rating. A holster with a ring finger disengagement snap or depression release means that the holster has a Level 3 retention rating. Tensioning screws are employed to reach a professed higher level of retention; however, they need constant adjustment on a daily basis as their tension is subject to temperature variations. They are more of a marketing tool than a dependable element of protection.
Rating conventional holsters with levels of retention ratings is dangerous to law enforcement personnel and is misguided. A sequence of complex maneuvers must occur during the performance of actions needed to engage safety retention levels of a pistol in the holster and also to disengage safety retention levels to access a pistol in the holster. Each level of retention restricts access to the pistol when needed by a law enforcement officer. Any out-of-sequence maneuver could prolong the time to access the pistol or even render the pistol inaccessible for self-defense. Proponents of the levels of retention ratings erroneously believe that, in a gun grab attempt, an officer will be able to protect himself from violent physical action by a perpetrator as the officer tries to protect himself and maintain security over his gun. An individual attempting a gun grab to disarm an officer of his or her weapon has not only the belief that he will be successful in the attempt, but also intends to cause serious harm or death to the officer. During a gun grab attempt, an officer is obligated by the protocols of his duty to resist harming his attacker under the law enforcement departmental guidelines expressed in force continuum principles, which are certainly not a consideration, nor a restraint to a perpetrator. During the physical confrontation with his opponent, the officer must protect his pistol first, with at least one hand, if not two hands; attempt to ward off his attacker; and at the same time, attempt to draw his pistol in a complicated sequence of complex motor memory actions. Under stress, complex motor memory fails to yield the desired result.
In order to overcome the problems associated with prior art holsters, there is a need to provide a security holster with a locking lever that works synergistically with the dimensions and mechanics of a slide action pistol for safe and secure holstering of a pistol and for quick drawing of the loaded pistol from the holster.